<p>DS is a sophomore (intended) ChemE major with a career goal of process engineering, possibly in pharma/biotech. His long-term goal is process design for scale-up of new pharmaceuticals, perhaps biopharmaceuticals.</p>
<p>The question I have is how important is it for his first internship experience to be in process engineering in a pharmaceutical plant, or would any type of process engineering internship (e.g. food, petrochem, paper, agrichem, materials, semiconductor fab, etc.) be applicable towards his career goal? Which industries are most similar to pharma and would thus provide the best preparation for a future internship or co-op in pharma?</p>
<p>Alternatively, would a non-process internship (e.g. operations or environmental engineering) in a pharmaceutical plant be better than a process internship in a non-pharmaceutical industry?</p>
<p>Another question I have is whether he should consider a six-month co-op at this point, which would delay graduation a year. He attends a state school with very competitive admission to ChemE (3.7 average admit GPA), and he will be in "pre-engineering" until the end of his Sophomore year with a ~3.3 GPA, so taking a co-op position this year could also delay his admission to ChemE by a year, which is by no means guaranteed in any event. The extra time in school would not be a problem, nor are college expenses or living expenses during his co-op/internship, it is just a question of whether it is sensible to take time off from school for work experience before even being admitted to the ChemE major.</p>
<p>My assumptions here are that 1) having relevant work experience under his belt pre-admission would increase his odds of ChemE admission, and 2) it would be better for him to get as much relevant work experience as possible before graduation, ideally three 3-6 month internships/co-ops, to maximize his chances of landing the type of long-term position he wants after graduation, both of which would imply the co-op + 5-years-to-graduate route. </p>
<p>Finally, one consideration is that he is younger than usual as he started college right after 10th grade and came in with AP credits and also took classes the past two summers. So he will have Junior standing this winter but will just be turning 18, and he doesn't yet have a driver's licence. Many of the internship opportunities he and I have looked at appear to have a reasonable rental market nearby with a job site served by public transportation, but he may be a bit young to be finding housing on his own and living for an extended period on his own across the country, etc, so if the type of industry for a first internship doesn't matter so much, then perhaps he should consider options relatively closer to home.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for any and all advice!</p>